Hello everyone! Thank you for stopping by my website.

I love to write books.

I love to tell stories.

I love my family, my friends, my naughty cats, reading books, walking through nature, and I love to chat with readers via email or book clubs. I have twelve novels and six short stories floating around out there, and if you pick one up, I truly, truly hope you like it.  I laughed and cried over those books, and I hope you do, too.

A tiny smidgen of information about me for those who are curious…

I was born in Newport Beach, California and spent my first ten years in Huntington Beach running wild outside with a bunch of siblings and equally loud and wild friends. I mastered the art of skateboarding, catching butterflies in bottles, and riding my bike with no hands. When I was ten, my parents moved me, my two sisters, a brother, and two poorly behaved dogs to Oregon before I could fulfill my lifelong dream of becoming a surfer bum.

I then embarked on my notable academic career where I earned good grades now and then, spent a great deal of time daydreaming, and landed on the newspaper staff in high school. When I saw my byline above an article, well, that was it. I had to become a writer.

After two years of partying at the University of Oregon, I settled down for the next three years and earned my bachelor’s and master’s degrees in education, and became a fourth grade teacher.  I threw out my red cowboy boots and my near-neon pink coat and learned about the Oregon Trail. I loved teaching, but I also loved the nights and summers where I could write and try to build a career filled with characters from my  zooming/odd/colorful imagination.

I  met my husband on a blind date.  A mutual friend who was an undercover vice cop busting drug dealers set us up. My husband jokes he was being arrested at the time. That is not true. Do not believe him. His sense of humor is treacherous. It was love at third sight.  We’ve now been married a long time and have three grown children: Rebel Dancing Daughter, Adventurous Singing Daughter, and Darling Laughing Son.

Teaching children about the history of Oregon and multiplication facts amused me until I became so gigantically pregnant with twins I looked like a small cow and could barely walk. With a three year old at home, I decided it was time to make a graceful exit and waddle on out.  I like to think my students missed me. I missed teaching!

When I was no longer smothered in diapers and pacifiers, I took a turn onto the hazardous road of freelance writing and wrote over 250 articles on homes, home décor, people and fashion for a local newspaper.  As I am not fashionable and can hardly stand to shop, it was an eye opener  to find that some women actually do obsess about what to wear. I also learned it would probably be more relaxing to slam a hammer against one’s forehead than engage in a large and costly home remodeling project. I also tried to write romance books, which ended ingloriously for years.

Finally, luckily, thankfully, Julia’s Chocolates sold. I have written twelve more novels since then, six short stories, and a mind-numbing number of blogs and articles. I am grateful every day to be a writer.

I suffer from, “I Would Rather Play Than Work Disease” which prevents me from getting much work done unless I have a threatening deadline, which is, to be clear, every December.  I like to hang with family and friends, walk, eat chocolate, travel, go to Starbucks, and I am slightly obsessive, okay, very obsessive, about the types of books I read. I also like to be left alone a lot so I can hear all the bizarre and troubled characters in my head talk to each other and then transfer those conversations to paper. The characters usually don’t start to talk until 10:00 at night,  however, so I am often up ‘til 2:00 in the morning with them.

I adore my children and husband, even though my husband made me start golfing with him two years ago, which is officially The Most Maddening Sport On The Planet.  I have accidentally hit houses and roofs while golfing, but am proud to say I have broken no windows with flying golf balls.

I am currently working on my next book, and I’m not sleeping much.

Cheers and thanks for stopping by my website.